Before founding IMCE Ltd in 2011, Ian Maynard spent over 37 years in the field of New Product Development. His career has encompassed OEMs in the medical and telecoms sectors and a tier-1 supplier in the automotive sector. As such, he has worked on both sides of the industry and understands the crucial factors that guarantee successful design and manufacture.
During his time in tier-1 automotive he was trained in a number of continuous improvement techniques that were current at the time. FMEA, Kaizen, Taguchi, SPC, are some of the tools and philosophies he learnt during that period. More recently these tools and techniques have been collected together under the twin banners of Six Sigma and Lean. In many ways Ian has been using the fundamental building blocks of Six Sigma and Lean for over 25 years.
As tolerance analysis expert at Nokia he was instrumental in giving technical leadership and support to mechanical design teams around the world. In 2002 Ian was asked to join a small team of senior engineers who were given the authority to streamline Nokia’s global mechanical design process. The objective for the team was to increase worldwide productivity by improving the quality and efficiency of mechanical design. The success of their work enabled Nokia to sell robust products all around the world in quantities that were unprecedented and which still hold the record today. link
In 2003 Ian was elected as a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and was also registered as a Chartered Engineer. This he ranks as his proudest achievement. In 2012 Ian created the IMechE Tolerance Analysis Course which is currently run three times a year at the IMechE headquarters in London.
He is a serving member on the British Standards Institution technical committee TPR/001 and is honoured to be contributing to the latest revision of BS8888.
Ian has been a STEM Ambassador for many years and regularly visits schools to participate in technical activities to enthuse and inspire the next generation of young engineers.
Endorsement
“Having experienced Ian’s methodical approach to total design I can testify it makes a real difference. Utilising the good working practises listed below, Ian trained and supervised the mechanical team to perform all the tolerance analysis work to achieve the very highest quality levels essential for a luxury product.
- Component tolerance analysis monitoring to optimise component interfaces.
- Prioritising component form, fit and function characteristics, thus highlighting efficiently where the real tolerance analysis study work should be focused.
- Applying experience of manufacturing process capabilities from a wide range of processes to ensure realism and common sense gave optimal results.
- Consulted and ensured implementation of GD&T datum’s throughout the assembly, thus ensuring total compatibility between components throughout the product.
The result – simply the most successful first off tool product build in Vertu history.
From high level Design for Assembly, to setting of critical dimensions with realistic tolerances the whole process was set up and facilitated by Ian.
I have no hesitation in endorsing Ian’s skills and abilities in these aspects of the product delivery life cycle.”
Richard Bennett CEng BEng MSc MIMechE MIED
Senior Mechanical Design Engineer
Vertu Ltd